![image1.jpeg This was taken during a long walk to see the cherry blossoms (at last!!)—this is across the moat from Kitanomaru park, which flanks the Imperial Palace grounds.](/sites/international.uiowa.edu/files/styles/no_crop__768w/public/2022-04/wysiwyg_uploads/image1.jpeg?itok=z9MU61Au)
During the months of March and April, Tokyo undergoes a transformation. Neighborhoods, rivers, parks, and temples become shrouded in white and pink. Cherry blossom season is, perhaps, a bit like our Christmas—a time in which people forget time, to soak in the sakura for a few blissful and carefree hours. Some do it by foot; others reserve spots in parks for cherry blossom parties, a.k.a. ohanami, for the perfect combination of food, drink, friends, and flowers. I tried both—after wandering from Yasukuni shrine to Kitanomaru park, I took a break and did my own small hanami (sitting on a rock near bicycles, with a convenience store lunch), during which I found out that watching people viewing the blossoms is just as fun as viewing the blossoms themselves.
![image2.jpeg Henry Hartzler](/sites/international.uiowa.edu/files/styles/no_crop__768w/public/2022-04/wysiwyg_uploads/image2.jpeg?itok=kPr6jQIQ)
![image4.jpeg I also stopped by Yasukuni shrine to imbibe the pink scenery...](/sites/international.uiowa.edu/files/styles/no_crop__768w/public/2022-04/wysiwyg_uploads/image4.jpeg?itok=o3yq6PaI)
![onae_circle.png Onae parker](/sites/international.uiowa.edu/files/styles/no_crop__768w/public/2022-04/wysiwyg_uploads/onae_circle.png?itok=H8Nn52Xa)
Onae Parker is a linguistics and Japanese major at the University of Iowa. Winner of a 2018 Gilman International Scholarship award, she will be spending the semester in Tokyo, Japan, as part of the University of Meiji Exchange program.